About the Artist
Justin DeMattico is a figurative-based painter who creates surrealist environments in oil-paint, watercolor,
embroidery and 3D printed sculptures. His work explores themes informed by his deep-rooted faith and is
a reflection of his spiritual journey.
From a young age, Christianity was a large inspiration for DeMattico. Following the passing of his
grandfather, he began questioning and seeking answers surrounding the topics of death and life thereafter.
DeMattico sought and found these answers in the Bible and continues to explore, question, and draw
inspiration from it. Justin’s unique blend of portraiture, Christian themes, and symbolism sets him apart
as an artist who fearlessly explores the depths of human existence. DeMattico seeks to inspire people to
question these topics as well and, perhaps, find answers through his work.
He graduated in 2020 with a B.A. in studio art from Monmouth University and afterwards earned his M.F.A.
in painting at Savannah College of Art and Design in 2022.
Prior to college, DeMattico never pursued any type of fine art. Attending a performing arts high school for
digital filmmaking, he was a film editor who set out to become a digital animator. After taking his first
studio painting course in college, he realized fine art is something he was incredibly passionate about and
intended to help others discover their passion for it as well.
Justin is now a professor of art at Brookdale Community College in New Jersey. He teaches courses such as
Figure Drawing, Color Theory, and Drawing 1 and 2. DeMattico now gets to work closely with artists of all
different skill levels, from people who have never picked up a pencil to those who have been creating since childhood, helping them continue to refine, hone and develop their abilities as fine artists.
DeMattico also serves as a faculty mentor for the Whyman Center for Transformative Learning, working closely with students to develop skills like working with clients, developing and pitching a concept and executing large scale murals on campus.
He has exhibited widely in his home area of Central New Jersey with organizations like Monmouth Arts, The Monmouth Museum, and Chashama with additional shows in California, Utah and Toronto.
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Artist Statement
I paint alternate Edens where the male form becomes a vessel for redemption, reflection, and divine connection.
Growing up within the Christian faith, I was shaped by stories of paradise, fall, and renewal. Those narratives formed my earliest images of the world: beauty touched by brokenness, humanity reaching toward something holy. As I matured, I wondered what those stories might look like if they were reimagined through a lived experience, drawing upon my feelings for inspiration. What if the landscapes of faith could be rebuilt, revised, or reborn?
In the studio, that question becomes my compass. I draw from Christian iconography and imagined landscapes to create new worlds that soften the tension between sin and salvation. I take inspiration from different Biblical stories, typically whatever feels most relevant to my life at the current moment, stories I can relate to. I flesh through the verses, filling in the gaps with my own interpretation of how I believe those men may have felt.
My ideas combine a reinterpretation of the stories with a new context, like switching the setting to feel more personally connected to me, where I live, and what is on the horizon for me next. My ideas come to fruition in Photoshop collage-inspired “color studies,” where I create the worlds through many source images, including my own original photography. Exploring lighting, saturation, and color palettes and using compositional techniques like the golden ratio, the reference images are created, evolve, and change.
When I create, I often feel isolated. There is a lot of quiet alone time in the studio that I draw upon to create these often isolated figures. I want that quiet, aloneness to be felt throughout the piece, that even in the perfect environments full of beauty and creation, we can still feel alone and lost. Imagining what life would be like existing in these spaces that can only exist in my mind is something I have been playing with: removing figures from my work, having them turned into “statues” or appearing solitary in the pieces.
These are the emotions I try to draw upon in my work. Through portraiture and symbolic environments, I explore the complexity of being human: the pull of longing, the weight of judgment, and the enduring desire for divine connection.
These imagined Edens are both escapes and reflections. They mirror the world as it is, fractured, searching, and lost, yet illuminated by the possibility of renewal.
In the end, my work strives to offer a vision of redemption that feels personal and expansive. I invite viewers to consider grace not as a distant promise, but as something already emerging, embodied, and reaching toward the divine once again.
CV
JUSTIN DEMATTICO
EDUCATION:
2020-2022 M.F.A. in Painting, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA
2016-2020 B.A. in Fine Arts/Minor in Psychology, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ
2012-2016 Digital Filmmaking, East Brunswick Vo-Tech, Digital Film Department, East Brunswick, NJ
TEACHING EXPERIENCE:
2022-Present Adjunct Professor, Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, NJ
Teaching Drawing 1, Drawing 2, Figure Drawing and Color Theory. Recipient of 28th Annual Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award, Revising Color Theory program
curriculum to incorporate addition of digital media through Adobe Photoshop. Oversaw students’ self-directed projects, encouraging students’ technical expertise,
aesthetic understanding, and professional development.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
2025-Present Faculty Mentor, Angela Kariotis, Whyman Center for Transformative Learning, Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, NJ
Created the application, organized the committee, and oversaw the selection process. Oversaw students’ collaborative projects between the client, the President’s
task force, and each other to create a mural matching the client’s concept. Mentored students to create the mural.
2022 Teaching Assistant, Kimberly Callas, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ
Teaching Assistant, Joy Flynn, Savannah College of Art and Design, SCADnow
2020 Intern, Kimberly Callas, Discovering the Ecological Self, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ
2019 Intern, Stephen McMillion, Red Bank Frameworks, Red Bank, NJ
Intern, Kimberly Callas, Discovering the Ecological Self, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ
2014-2016 Lab Assistant, Instructor: Louis Libitz, Digital Filmmaking, East Brunswick Vo-Tech, East Brunswick, NJ
2014-2016 Teaching Assistant, Instructor: Louis Libitz, Digital Filmmaking,East Brunswick Vo-Tech, East Brunswick, NJ
AWARDS
2025 Bronze Medal, Guild of Creative Art, Shrewsbury, NJ
28th Annual Outstanding Adjunct Faculty Award, Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, NJ
Bronze Medal, Guild of Creative Art, Shrewsbury, NJ
2023 Bronze Medal, Guild of Creative Art, Shrewsbury, NJ
2022 Mitchell Award for Acrylic Painting, Guild of Creative Art, Shrewsbury, NJ
2019-2020 McKenzie / VanEverdingen Endowed Scholarship, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ
2018-2019 McKenzie / VanEverdingen Endowed Scholarship, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ
2015 The American Dream, Second Place, New Jersey Young Filmmakers, Thomas Edison National Historical Park Museum, West Orange, NJ
I Love Patty, Honorable Mention, New Jersey Young Filmmakers, Thomas Edison National Historical Park Museum, West Orange, NJ
2014 Books Where Your Journey Begins, Best PSA, East Brunswick Vo-Tech, East Brunswick, NJ
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2025 The Secret Gardens of My Mind, ChaShaMa, Matawan, NJ
2024 Divine Reflections: Navigating Faith and Beauty through Art, ChaShaMa, Matawan, NJ
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS/SCREENINGS:
2025 Seen and Unseen, Monmouth Arts, Monmouth University's Pollak Gallery, West Long Branch, NJ
33rd October Juried Show 2025, Guild of Creative Art, Shrewsbury, NJ
Through The Lens, Monmouth Museum, Lincroft NJ
Echoes of Eden, Gallery Lucida, Red Bank, NJ
+1, ChaShaMa, Matawan, NJ
45th Annual Juried Art Exhibition, Monmouth Museum, Lincroft NJ
2024 32nd October Juried Show 2024, Guild of Creative Art, Shrewsbury, NJ
44th Annual Juried Art Exhibition, Monmouth Museum, Lincroft NJ
Alchemy, Brookdale Community College’s Wellness Center, Lincroft, NJ
2023 His Only Son Gallery Event, Angel Studios, Provo, UT
Reinvention, Monmouth Arts, Long Branch Cultural Arts Center, Long Branch, NJ
31st October Juried Show 2023, Guild of Creative Art, Shrewsbury, NJ
43rd Annual Juried Art Exhibition, Monmouth Museum, Lincroft NJ
2023 – Botanical, Las Laguna Art Gallery, Online, Laguna Beach, CA
2022 Hello Tomorrow, HMVC Gallery, Online, New York, NY
Belonging, Monmouth Arts, Brookdale Community College’s CVA Gallery, Lincroft, NJ
30th October Juried Show 2022, Guild of Creative Art, Shrewsbury, NJ
Kingdom Animalia - 2022, Gallerium Art Exhibitions, Online, Toronto, Canada
Emotions- 2022, Gallerium Art Exhibitions, Online, Toronto, Canada
Flowers 4 Peace & Prosperity, Red Bluff Art Gallery 3-D Virtual Exhibit, Red Bluff, CA
Two Person Exhibition, Other-Worldly/Strange Beauty, ChaShaMa Matawan, Matawan, NJ
2021 Members’ Holiday Show, Guild of Creative Art, Shrewsbury, NJ
Journey, Monmouth Arts, Monmouth University's Pollak Gallery, West Long Branch, NJ
SCAD Open Studio, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA
2020 Senior Show – An Online Exhibit, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ
2019 Annual Student Exhibition, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ
2018 Annual Student Exhibition, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ
2017 Annual Student Exhibition, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ
2016 2nd REEL Film Festival, East Brunswick Vo-Tech, East Brunswick, NJ
2015 41st Annual New Jersey Young Filmmakers, AMC Dine-In Theatre, West Orange, NJ
41st Annual New Jersey Young Filmmakers, Centenary College, Hackettstown, NJ
41st Annual New Jersey Young Filmmakers, Thomas Edison National Historical Park, West Orange, NJ
1st REEL Film Festival, East Brunswick Vo-Tech, East Brunswick, NJ
2014 3rd Annual New Works Film Festival, East Brunswick Vo-Tech, East Brunswick, NJ
2013 2nd Annual New Works Film Festival, East Brunswick Vo-Tech, East Brunswick, NJ
PROFESSIONAL FILM WORK EXPERIENCE:
2016 Director/Screenwriter/Cinematographer/Editor, “2nd REEL Film Festival Trailer,” Video by Justin DeMattico, Rokaia Safri, and Skye Waters
2015 Sound, “Saving Grace,” Video by Sarah Beim
Director/Screenwriter/Editor, “1st REEL Film Festival Trailer,” Video by Justin DeMattico, Rae Ann McMahon, Skye Waters, and Rokaia Safri
Editor, “The American Dream,” Video by Deanna Rivera and Rae Ann McMahon
2014 Sound/Editor, “I Love Patty,” Video by Justin DeMattico, Diana Torres, Sierra Musselman, Claudia Martinez, Matteos Cabrera and Molly Fade
Editor, “3rd Annual New Works Film Festival Trailer,” Video by Rokaia Safri, Rae Ann McMahon, and Justin DeMattico
Cinematographer, “Books Where Your Journey Begins,” Video by Sarah Beim and Justin DeMattico
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Stephanie Hernandez, “Meet Justin DeMattico of Bethpage, TN.” NashvilleVoyager, September 30, 2022. https://nashvillevoyager.com/interview/meet-justin-demattico-of-bethpage-tn/
“Page 99 - I Dream of Forests.” Artistonish. Discover the Artist, May 30, 2022.
https://www.artistonish.com/may2022.
LECTURES/WORKSHOPS:
2025 Artist Talk, Chashama, Matawan, NJ
2024 Artist Talk, Chashama, Matawan, NJ
2022 Artist Talk, Monmouth Arts, Brookdale Community College’s CVA Gallery, Lincroft, NJ
CURATORIAL PROJECTS:
2025 The Secret Gardens of My Mind, ChaShaMa Matawan, Matawan, NJ
2024 Divine Reflections: Navigating Faith and Beauty through Art, ChaShaMa Matawan, Matawan, NJ
2023 Vocabularies of Line, co-curated with Elisa Elorza and Amy Farris, Brookdale Community College’s CVA Gallery, Lincroft, NJ
2022 Other-Worldly/Strange Beauty, co-curated with Laura Powell, ChaShaMa Matawan, Matawan, NJ
HONOR SOCIETIES:
2019-Present Psi Chi, Monmouth University Chapter, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ
PROFESSIONAL AFFILATIONS:
2025 – Present Member of Professional Artist Association
2024 – Present Member of Tom of Finland Foundation
2021 – Present Member of the Guild of Creative Art
2020 – Present Member of Monmouth Arts
CAREER SKILLS:
• Curriculum development
• Classroom organization
• Student advising
• Freelance client consultation experience
• Highly Proficient in framing and archiving physical media
TECHNICAL SKILLS:
Software Zoom, Final Cut Pro, iMovie, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Lightroom, Adobe XD, Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel) GarageBand,
iTunes, Celtx, QuickTime Player.
Equipment Godox AD400, Green Screen, Canon m50 mark ii, T6i, T3i, T2i, 5D, 60D, 70D, Lowel Rifa, Softbox Studio Lights, Zoom (H4N and H5), Boom, Rode Shotgun Microphone, Lavalier,
Manfrotto Tripods/Monopod, Blue Microphones, Samson Meter Microphone, Apple Mac Desktops and Laptops
Social Media Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, Zoom, Tik Tok, Wordpress, Pinterest, Tumblr, YouTube, Weebly, Edmodo, Wix, SquareSpace
